Vero Beach City Council member John Carroll is forming an ad-hoc committee to breathe new life into the stagnant fund drive that was started two years ago to raise money to help replace the Humiston Beach Park boardwalk that was destroyed by Hurricane Nicole in November of 2022.
Council members voted 5-0 on June 23 to approve the Humiston Boardwalk Citizens Committee, which will consist of five members, plus one alternate, similar to the committee that was formed to advise the city council during the early planning of the Three Corners waterfront redevelopment project, Carroll said.
The committee will meet at least once every two weeks with two specific purposes in mind. One is to restart fund-raising efforts and the other is to create levels of sponsorship and a plan to recognize large donors. The committee will sundown on Dec. 31.
Morgan Reynolds and Bethany Fortunato have completed the necessarily city forms to serve on the committee and Carroll says others have stepped up to fill out the committee but their paperwork is still in progress.
Managed by the Indian River Community Foundation, fund raising started out strong, but has petered out in recent months. The fund now has a total of $145,213 in donations, plus another $160,000 in pledged donations – about $95,000 short of its original goal of raising $400,000.
The city budgeted $1 million for the project as part of its five-year Capital Improvement plan it passed last year.
A state grant, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reimbursement and additional in-kind pledges for construction materials bring the total to nearly $3.25 million, but it’s still falls far short of project’s current estimated cost, which is around $4.7 million.
The exact cost won’t be known until after the lowest qualifying bid is awarded. The bid requests went out June 18 and the winning bid will be awarded in August.
The committee has a lot of work to do and will have to hit the ground running, Carroll said.
“The community support is there. It’s just been so long now since fundraising started that it’s kind of died out,” Carroll said. “I kept hearing from people asking me what’s going on with the project, so I figured it was time to do something to get some buzz going.”
Carroll, a licensed engineer and contractor, has kickstarted that buzz with a matching grant in his family’s name of $16,500. Added to a $3,500 matching grant he put up when fundraising began, this brings his family’s total contribution to $20,000.
He’s hoping others will follow his lead.
The committee will have to work quickly, he said. The project has gone out for bids and the lowest qualified bid will be announced at the Aug. 23 council meeting. Constructed will of Nov. 1, after the last day of sea turtle nesting season, and must be completed before sea turtle nesting season begins next March 1st.
The committee may have to meet more frequently as it gets closer to Nov. 1, Carroll said.
Some donors will get plaques, others will get naming rights for the two pavilions or possibly the benches along the walkway, Carroll said. Still others will have their names etched into the planks on the boardwalk, he said. The committee will iron out the specifics.
First built in the 1930s as a wooden structure and later replaced with a concrete structure, the 427-foot-long walkway with benches and one pavilion overlooking the ocean had already been structurally weakened by Hurricane Ian in late September 2022. Hurricane Nicole dealt a fatal blow when she roared past in early November, severely eroding the dune underneath.
The city demolished the remains of the structure in January 2023 and has since rebuilt the dune line. Council members at the time contemplated replacing it with a simple sidewalk, but abandoned that idea after business leaders and other members of the public pushed back, with many saying they were willing to raise the funds needed to bring the boardwalk back to its former glory.
The council hired engineers to begin work on the new design, which has gone through several revisions. The current plans call for a boardwalk of essentially the same length, but with prestressed concrete pillars, timber framing with Trex decking – made of a hardy composite of recycled materials – with a 12-foot by 22-foot covered pavilion to the north and a 12-foot by 42-foot pavilion on the southern end with a handicapped access ramp.
LED lighting will be installed in the pavilions. Plans include options for guard rails constructed of wooden posts and pickets, similar to the rails on the boardwalk near Sexton Plaza beach, and an option for less expensive decorative aluminum rails, said Matthew Mitts, the city’s public works director. Lighting can be added later to either option, illuminating the boardwalk itself, he said.
Construction estimates have drastically risen from around $2.3 million in 2025 to between $4.7 million and $5 million for the current plans. However, the exact cost won’t be determined until a winning bidder is selected, Mitts said.
“With so many charitable causes to choose from, I believe it is important for the City of Vero Beach to acknowledge the generosity of donors whose contributions will help to rebuild a community amenity as special as the Humiston boardwalk,” said Jeff Pickering, president and CEO of the Indian River Community Foundation.
In addition to the donations and pledges collected by the Community Foundation, Clayton Sembler of CDS Manufacturing, whose family has roots in Vero Beach, has said he will cover the costs of prestressed concrete pillars and the decking materials, estimated to be around $700,000, Carroll said.
The State of Florida appropriated $350,000 for the project as a line item in the 2025/2026 state budget, to be administered by Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). The city has applied for an additional $400,000 grant from FDEP this fiscal year, but won’t know if the funding will still be in the final budget until it is approved next March, Mitts said.
After Nicole wiped out the boardwalk, the city requested $460,000 from FEMA to cover damages, but was only promised $83,000. However, staff appealed that decision and last month FEMA notified the city that it would be reimbursed for the full $460,000, Mitts said.
Indian River County committed $400,000 from its General Fund toward the project in January 2025. However, the original terms of the agreement only promised the money if the city wasn’t successful in obtaining grants from the state. A revised agreement without that requirement has been drafted, but at this time commissioners have not yet been asked to approve it, said County Administrator John Titkanich.
There are no plans for additional funding from the county, he said.
“The city could not have done this project on its own,” Mitts said. “I think all the local philanthropic support and funding partners who want to make this project a reality shows that the city and the greater community are resilient and willing to do what it takes to protect a way of life that has brought so many to our area.”
“This is a great opportunity for people who haven’t been involved in the community previously to get involved in something historical in nature,” Carroll said. “This is a big deal. This boardwalk will be here for generations to come.”
To make a donation, visit www.rebuildhumiston.org or call 772-492-1407. The Community Foundation will help with the financial paperwork required for tax purposes.
